Open University of Catalonia

About: Open University of Catalonia is a education organization based out in Barcelona, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Collaborative learning & Educational technology. The organization has 1943 authors who have published 4646 publications receiving 64200 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya & UOC.

E-assessment process: giving a voice to online learners

Abstract: Considering the expansion of active pedagogies that consider the student as the centre of the teaching and learning process, their role during the assessment process cannot be overlooked. That implies a change in the teacher’s role from a communicator of the student’s mark to an open system in which teachers and students get involved in the learning process and develop online assessment skills. From a description of a concrete experience of continuous e-assessment in a subject at the UOC, this paper explores the advantages of the active role of students in the e-assessment of competency acquisition. In this subject, the student is assessed, using a project based learning methodology, from two dimensions provided by continuous assessment: on the one hand, the assessment of the process followed during the development of the activities based on the outcomes of each phase of the projects and process monitoring and, on the other hand, the assessment of the final outcome. Hence, students participate in both the assessment of the process and the final outcome. The process assessment, developed in the framework of teamwork, is produced in a self-assessment process in which both the student and peer participation in a work group are analysed, thereby developing a dynamic peer-assessment. In addition, a process of reflection regarding teamwork is carried out at the end of each phase of the project, based on an interactive process among the members of the group. The evaluation of the results focuses on an interactive assessment based on the analysis of the projects developed by other groups at the final stage of the subject. In order to analyse the students’ perception about the e-assessment methodology and their role during this process, a quantitative and online questionnaire was designed and administered at the final stage of the course. The results revealed a high level of satisfaction with the e-assessment activities of the course and an improvement of the learning process.

Automatic code generation for cross-platform, multi-device mobile apps: some reflections from an industrial experience

Abstract: With the continuously increasing adoption of mobile devices, software development companies have new business opportunities through direct sales in app stores and delivery of business to employee (B2E) and business to business (B2B) solutions. However, cross-platform and multi-device development is a barrier for today's IT solution providers, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), due to the high cost and technical complexity of targeting development to a wide spectrum of devices, which differ in format, interaction paradigm, and software architecture. So far, several authors have proposed the application of model driven approaches to mobile apps development following a variety of strategies. In this paper we present the results of a research study conducted to find the best strategy for WebRatio, a software development company, interested in producing a MDD tool for designing and developing mobile apps to enter the mobile apps market. We report on a comparative study conducted to identify the best trade-offs between various automatic code generation approaches.

A simulation-optimization approach to deploy Internet services in large-scale systems with user-provided resources

Abstract: Cloud computing systems can benefit from the use of personal and non-dedicated computers, which are currently employed in volunteer computing systems Being non-dedicated, these resources show random behavior regarding the times they are online (available) and offline Accordingly, their availability levels are lower than those of traditionally employed dedicated resources Thus, in order to use non-dedicated resources in cloud computing environments, it is necessary first to solve the problem of how to attain high availability levels for the Internet services deployed over them Most approaches on how to guarantee high service availability levels with non-dedicated resources are based on the introduction of high degrees of redundancy into the system However, this praxis leads to an inefficient usage of computational resources and, therefore, to higher operational costs Accordingly, the focus of this paper is the problem of minimizing the cost of a service deployment over non-dedicated resources while providing a high level of service availability In order to solve this stochastic optimization problem, the paper proposes a hybrid algorithm that combines a metaheuristic component with a discrete-event simulation component The metaheuristic component is used to search for an efficient configuration of resources The simulation component is integrated inside the metaheuristic and used to estimate the service availability of each promising configuration A numerical experiment section, comparing the performance of several algorithms, contributes to validating the proposed approach as well as to illustrate its potential applications

Half a loaf is (not) better than none: how austerity-related grievances and emotions triggered protests in spain*

Abstract: Demonstrations have become more visible across Europe since the Great Recession. To clarify the connection between crisis and protest, we open the black box of crisis-related grievances, suggesting a typology for this subjective phenomenon and addressing the mediating role of emotions on protest. Using panel data, we explore the dimensionality of thirty different items that Spanish citizens have claimed to endure as a consequence of the crisis, and then we test their potential of these grievances as triggers of protest. Results show that both financial deprivation and grievances related to worker-citizens' status and rights encourage protest activity. Crisis-related grievances trigger negative emotions, and curiously enough, both anger and anxiety boost protest. Our findings hold, regardless of political ideology, previous participation, or perceptions of self-efficacy.